. the aesthetic values of
.popular taste of average
distance and form reflect the
person reveals their more
elite’s distance from the
immediate relationship to the
immediate demands of nature,
demands of nature, i.e., they
e.g., need for food, shelter,
have to earn a living, live from
etc.
paycheque to paycheque
2. AC640 reading: Juliet Schor, “Communicating with Commodities”
Juliet Schor is a sociologist at Boston College well known for her research into work (see her
book The Overworked American) and into consumer culture (The Overspent American).
This chapter represents a very accessible application of Bourdieu’s theory–which was
originally done in France–to the culture of contemporary North America.
Schor asks a question that takes Bourdieu into new territory: the suburban malls and official
classlessness of American culture. That is, given that in North America class boundaries
have blurred to some extent, society become urbanized, and mass media saturates the
experience of everyone–upper, middle, working class and poor–does the kind of analysis
Bourdieu does, and the concepts he has developed, still apply?
Her answer is yes. But the analysis must now be more subtle, since in the U.S. (and
Canada) there is more internal diversity within various social classes, more cultural choices
to choose from, and status goods (e.g., expensive clothes, Nike shoes, etc.) that the poor
aspire to buy. Advertising is a英语论文网 【http://www.51lunwen.org】 major source by which the “cultural capital” associated with
various goods is established, as ads infuse what cultural theorist Raymond Williams called
the “dead world of things” with improbable and fantastic qualities; this creates the “magic
system” (as Williams famously called it) that is consumer culture.
The “cultural economy” is more fluid and diverse now than it ever was, but this makes for
special problems with respect to the poor. That is, they invest much of their money in goods
that display their cultural capital–clothes, cars, jewelry, shoes– etc., and the pursuit of this
middle or upper class cultural capital tends to distort their lives. Youth will work long hours,
skip school, sometimes steal from or kill others for their clothes, and otherwise spend money
to demonstrate their symbolic and cultural capital in a society where distinction is all-
important. Viral marketing—the sales strategy whereby peer leaders are given free goods in
order for companies to leverage their influence and make the goods—a Gameboy, a new
Nike shoe—popular with advertising-wary kids is an example of Bourdieu’s theory in
practice. Here is Juliet Schor herself interviewed in the Seattle Times (November 20, 2004) on the
problem of viral marketing among kids.
Viral marketing "violates the basic principle that a person should know when they're
being advertised to," said Juliet Schor, author of "Born to Buy: The Commercialized
Child and the New Co
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